The insight in this passage hit home for me powerfully a few weeks ago perhaps a week after New Years. I was driving and listening to the radio. The guest-expert was talking about the basic process of how to keep New Years resolutions, and activating a process of self-understanding during the invariable lapses that occur when we slp back into the behavior we're seeking to dismantle. A caller dialed in with a question about a particular kind of behavior, and the guest-expert responded with advice that was designed to "trick your brain". Right then the insight occurred like lightening. How can you trick your brain if your consciousness is arising in your brain? What and who is getting tricked, and who is perpetrating the trick when "tricking the brain". I clearly experienced that there is no so-called "self" that I can point to. As I examined my mind, there isn't even a single consciousness running the show, but rather a set distinct and sometimes competing consciousnesses. Even the observer of these consciousnesses is not 'myself', as that observing turns off like a light switch in deep sleep, and is often not even fully in the realm of awareness during wakeful times. Suddenly so many conflicts that I were having different people in my life fell away like a ton of bricks. Every fight is an act of defending this so-called self, which is so temporary that even its present form is constantly walking like a green mountain. Just as all that tension, angst, and anger fell away, I was also clear that it doesn't mean that I don't have to or won't fight with people where I was in active conflict. Rather, I understand and experience this conflict without taking on any mental residue from it. Its not personal, and carries no ill will or anger. What a relief to be able to set aside the negativity that was coming from inevitable conflict!
On Jan 24, 2019Beth wrote :
Thank you for sharing this. It really resonated with me.
On Jan 18, 2019 rahul wrote :